Sunday, September 05, 2010

Diamond-Waltrip Racing - Atlanta Post Race Report

Trevor Bayne Race Summary: Trevor Bayne and the No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine team jumped one spot to seventh in the NASCAR Nationwide Series championship point standings. The Knoxville, Tenn., native started the Great Clips 300 from Atlanta Motor Speedway in 11th but an ill-handling racecar was evident from the drop of the green flag. Crew chief Jerry Baxter took several major swings at the No. 99 Toyota but nothing seemed to fix the problem. After suffering from a difficult handling condition along with several unfortunate events, Bayne crossed the finish line 24th and two laps down to the leaders. Next week the NNS travels to Richmond for it’s third new Nationwide car race on the NNS schedule.

TREVOR BAYNE, Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota

• Started 11th, finished 24th
• Suffered from an ill-handling race car throughout the 195 laps
• Raced in the top 20 for the majority of the race
• Went a lap down to the leaders on lap 98
• Brought out the third caution when he spun after making contact with Ryan Newman
• In the closing laps made an unscheduled pit stop while running 19th for a right-rear flat costing him five positions
• Bayne in now seventh in the NNS point standings

BAYNE QUOTES: “Our Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota was just off all day. We never could get it to handle right in practice and that just carried over to the race. This is the first time we’ve struggled like this in a long time. You’re going to have weeks like this. We just can’t let this mess with our momentum that we’ve had the last several months. We just need to go to Richmond and have a good run.”

NNS Racing Results

• Jamie McMurray won the Great Clips 300, his eighth victory in 179 NNS races
• This is his first victory and sixth top-10 finish in 2010.
• His last victory came on Nov. 13, 2004 at Darlington Raceway.
• Kyle Busch (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in seven races at AMS.
• Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five.
• The race featured nine lead changes among five drivers. Cautions slowed the race four time for 17 laps.
• NASCAR estimated 71,300 race fans in attendance at Atlanta